May 17, 2011 11:52 AM
15958 Views
Like all other parents we wanted to give the best to our child. By the time our baby was four months old, we started receving tele-marketing calls from Mother's Pride offering various investment options by paying in advance. Considering that very no famous playschools existed in Anand Vihar area of East Delhi, we decided to for Mother's Pride as it was very close to our residence. After lot of bargaining, we struck a deal by paying Rs. 10, 000/- as advance, the monthly fees would be Rs. 1650/- against an MRP of Rs. 4500/-. The package would be implemented whenever we wanted to admit our child in this playschool.
As soon as our child was about two year old, we started getting numerous calls constantly trying to convince us to start sending our child to the school immediately. However we were very firm on our decision and we admitted the child only when she reached the age of 2.5 years.
A closer look at the school revealed that the school was not paying anything to its teachers with the result that only unqualified 12th pass young girls were willing to work, all for an experience certificate they were promised by Mother's Pride. The school was paying salary only to its business development or front desk executives who were supposed to lure new parents. This fact can also be confirmed from the newspaper ads for recruitment of teachers, where the candidates for teachers need not have any qualification such as NTT/PRT etc. They are only paid a stipend of Rs. 4000 per month only. You can imagine what to expect from 12th pass teachers paid Rs. 4000 per month compared to what monthly tution fees parents are being asked to pay. Obviously the money parents pay is spent mostly on advertisements, marketing, creating new branches and incentives to business development executives rather tha for providing quality education to your child.
Originally two teachers were assigned to each class. However whenever I paid a surprise visit to the school I always found one teacher only. On enquiry I found that the second teachers are also being used to supplement nearby branches of Mother's Pride. The principal cum promotor cum everything Sudha Gupta herself does not have any teaching qualification either. She claims to be a parenting expert giving common-sense tips on television, radio and sms which are not worth anything. The school spends a lot on advertising itself thru glamorous ads, billboards, functions at costly venues.
On the whole the school is running a 100% business entity where your child is only an opportunity to maximise the net profit of the enterprise. They never bother that if they are charging more than 400 Rs. a month from parents, their chldren are entitled for an equivalent quality education.
